M. Scott Eiland wrote:
Hi,
>Hi!
I'm relatively new to this list--a member of this list who is also a
reader of my stories told me that this list was considering opening up
for new categories of fanfiction, and he encouraged me to join and to
post some of my own work if it turned out that such an opening up was in
the cards. I've mostly written Buffyverse stories in the past, but have
recently branched out into other storyverses such as Smallville, Justice
League, and Harry Potter. I am currently writing a Buffyverse/Harry
Potter crossover, and I have decided to post the chapters here, in the
hopes of gaining the benefit of input from a sharp group of readers.
Without further ado, then--part 1.
Summary: Faith departs from Sunnydale after disposing of Mr. Trick, and
wanders for months before meeting someone who has more in common with
her than she would have expected. BtVS/HP crossover.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters portrayed here, they
remain the property of their respective owners/creators.
Rating: K+, for violence, intensity, and general themes.
>Ooh. A rating. How exotic. I wonder what "K+" stands for. Killing
>and more? Kindersurprise?
Time Frame: Third season BtVS, AU from the point when Faith Slays Trick
in "Consequences," and intersecting with the HP timeline just after the
end of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." (spoilers!)Archiving:
Be my guest, but e-mail me (eilandesq@hotmail.com) to let me know. . .I
like to know where stuff I write ends up and I might want to see what
else you've got.
Dedication: To Sibling-who has long been among my most loyal and
enthusiastic fans-and who won a little contest I held on my Yahoo!
Group, for which the prize was to be a fic written with his choice of
primary characters. He made a couple of suggestions, the best of
which-as far as me writing a story based on it, in any event-could be
summed up as follows: "Harry and Faith have a lot in common, and might
be rather good for each other." I agreed-the result is this story.
>OK before we get started, the first thing I'd like to bring up is line
>length. You might want to set a limit. For some computers and e-mail
>programs, they can have difficulty turning lines that long into
>something readable. Somewhere between 60 and 72 appears to be >standard.
HARRY POTTER AND THE EXILED SLAYER
PART ONE
Mr. Trick's eyes widened. "Oh no." He shook his head in disbelief as he
muttered, "No, this is no good at all."
Buffy stared in shock as the nattily-dressed vampire burst into ashes
and the pressure from the cord around her throat diminished. The dust
dispersed, and she saw Faith standing there, still holding the stake
that had saved Buffy's life. The eyes of the Slayers met, and Buffy was
still trying to read the emotion in them when Faith moved almost faster
than Buffy's still-diminished perceptions could follow. Buffy felt a
sharp blow at the point of her chin, then knew nothing.
Faith looked down at Buffy's crumpled form and sighed, then picked the
older Slayer up in a fireman's carry. She looked around for a bit, then
found what she expected to find: a recent model Mercedes parked next to
a minivan. -Didn't think the conceited bloodsucker would bother to walk
all the way down here-he had expensive tastes from working for
Kakistos-- She was not surprised to find the keys still in the
ignition-the car was clearly marked as belonging to the mayor's office,
and virtually no one inclined to steal cars in Sunnydale would want to
make an enemy out of His Honor.
>Would you believe this is the first time it has occured to me that
>there's something curious about the way not just the vampire but also
>all his clothing and the contents of his pockets turn to ash?
She settled Buffy in the passenger seat and drove to the hospital.
"Hey-could I have some help here?" The nurse on front desk duty looked
up and saw a dark-haired teenage girl carrying another teenaged girl in
her arms. The brunette gently settled the other girl down in one of the
lobby chairs, then jogged over to the desk and explained, "She's been
mugged-she's got some wicked nasty bruises. I've got the name and number
of her guardian here." The girl handed the nurse a piece of paper. "You
can call him-I need to get some of her stuff out of the car. Be right back."
"But-" The nurse started to object, but the girl ran out before she
could finish her sentence. She pushed the button that would summon
medical help, and punched in the number that was on the sheet of paper.
"Hello. . .is this Mr. Giles? A young woman just brought in someone she
said you were the guardian of-a Miss Buffy Summers?" The voice on the
other end of the line increased in volume, and the nurse elaborated,
"She's apparently been mugged-we're going to look at her now. The young
woman said she would be right back-"
On the other end of the line, Rupert Giles sighed in mixed concern and
relief. His tone was dry as he replied, "Don't bet on that. I'll be
there in twenty minutes." He hung up the phone, scribbled a brief note
for Xander and Willow, then ran for his car.
@@@@@
"Faith!" Buffy's eyes snapped open and she sat up instantly as she
called out, looking wildly around until a wave of dizziness caused her
to pause.
"Easy, Buff. The last thing you need right now is to be barfing all over
the bed." Xander's tone and expression belied the puckish comment, and
he reached out and squeezed her shoulder as he added, "Welcome back."
Buffy looked around-more sedately this time-and saw that she was in a
hospital room, alone with Xander. She locked eyes with her best friend
and demanded: "How did I get here? What happened?"
"Well, the first part is easy. Faith brought you to the front desk, said
you'd been mugged, then left and didn't come back." Buffy's eyes
widened, and Xander coughed self-consciously and added, "We were hoping
you knew what happened before that."
Buffy frowned, then began to get out of bed, ignoring the light feeling
in her head: "I'll tell you when I tell everyone else-right now I need
to get out of-"
"Ah yes-I believe I've heard this tune before." Dr. Wilkinson walked
into the room, checked Buffy's chart, and commented, "They really ought
to have a seminar in hog-tying techniques in medical school-it would be
invaluable in dealing with patients like you, Miss Summers." Buffy
scowled at the doctor, but he ignored it and added, "Oh well, might as
well play my part: how are you feeling?"
"Better than I expected to while I was getting mugged?" Buffy did her
best to assume an innocent expression, and the doctor sighed patiently
while waiting for her to continue. Buffy frowned, then added: "I got
whacked around pretty good, Doc. Probably gave me some pretty good bruises."
"Yes, it did. From the bruise on your back, I'd say one of those
scoundrels whacked you with a crate that wouldn't fit through the door
of this room-criminals are getting creative these days." Buffy assumed a
poker face, and Dr. Wilkinson sighed again and said, "But, since the
bruise is already fading and you seem to have no broken bones or other
internal injuries, I'll reluctantly admit that you should be all right
to leave in the morning, Miss Summers, once we observe you for a while
longer to make sure that the concussion you received won't be causing
any problems."
Buffy smiled, and Dr. Wilkinson inclined his head and left with a
resigned expression on his face. Buffy looked after him with a mildly
affectionate expression. He's got to suspect what's going on in this
town-I wish I knew for sure that it was the right thing to keep him in
the dark She dismissed the thought and looked at Xander. "I don't
suppose that I could talk you into going home and getting a good night's
sleep?" Xander smirked at her, and Buffy nodded her head in
acknowledgement. "All right, then. Call Giles and tell him that we're
getting together for a conference at his apartment at eleven in the
morning. In case there's any question-no Council weasels allowed."
Xander nodded, and was about to stand up when Buffy added, "And get a
deck of cards while you're up-I'm too wound up to sleep for a while yet."
>This scene in the hospital room? It's a time waster. Dead wood.
>Nothing important happens there, none of the characters in it are
>important to the story you are telling and we don't learn anything
>there that we aren't also told in other scenes Cut it and go straight
>to the Mayor's office.
Xander stood up, and the look he gave her was somehow more intimate than
a hug before he turned and left the room. Buffy watched him go, then bit
her lip in sheer frustration. Damn it, Faith: what have you gotten
yourself into?
@@@@@@@
The vampire standing before Mayor Wilkins was less than thrilled about
being the acting replacement for both Assistant Mayor Finch and Mr.
Trick-it left him as the likely recipient of a lot of the Mayor's ire
regarding the bad news he was about to pass on. He took a breath that he
didn't really need and forced himself to look directly at the Mayor as
he reported: "None of Trick's crew have reported back in-and there were
traces of vampire dust near a spot on the docks where a fight had
clearly taken place. Trick's car was gone, though the van was found
parked nearby. We made a call and had the car's LoJack turned on-it
turned up abandoned in Oxnard, with no one having seen anything."
"I see-well, attacking two Slayers was always bound to be a risky
enterprise." Mayor Wilkins looked calm, and only a slight twitch in his
right cheek suggested that his calm might only be a surface impression.
The vampire swallowed nervously, but Wilkins didn't seem to notice as he
asked, "What of the Slayers?"
"Buffy Summers was dropped off at the emergency room by a young woman
whose description meets that of the other Slayer, Faith. Her injuries
were apparently relatively minor-she was released this morning." The
vampire saw a frown from his boss, and hastened to continue: "Faith has
not been seen by anyone in Sunnydale since last night-it's fairly
certain that she's the one who stole the car and abandoned it."
"Mr. Trick kept a fair amount of cash in that car-used it for his little
pleasures and for occasional bribery in the line of duty." Wilkins
sighed as he looked out into the darkness visible from his office
window. "My guess would be that young Miss Faith has taken it and
anything else that she could carry easily from the car, and arranged
alternate transportation out of the area." The vampire shivered, sensing
that an explosion was coming, and was shocked when the Mayor smiled
broadly and exclaimed, "Marvelous! Trick managed to accomplish something
useful after all!"
The vampire blinked. "I don't understand, sir-both Slayers escaped, and
one of them is completely out of your reach now."
Wilkins shook his head in mock dismay. "Bobby, Bobby, Bobby-if you're
going to be my new assistant, you need to be able to see the big picture
better." The vampire-who hated being called "Bobby" with a
passion-forced down the irritated expression that threatened to cross
his face as Wilkins continued, "Killing both Slayers was always going to
be a longshot-but we've managed to drive one of them out of town,
{Well I suppose Mayor Wilkins was someone who liked to look on the sunny
side. But it obviously wasn't Trick and Co. who drove Faith out of
town. Thinking about it, it is one of Wilkin's victories, but thanks to
an earlier scheme, the one where he sent his human deputy mayor out to
get staked by Faith.}
and-unless I miss my guess-the other one and her helpers are going to be
distracted by either worrying about her safety or whether she's going to
come back looking for payback, given what those English fools tried to
do to her last night. Meanwhile, I will be pursuing my plans with
relatively little interference." He grinned and announced, "I'm going
out for ice cream to celebrate-want to tag along?"
The vampire politely declined, and Wilkins left the office, practically
skipping out in his glee. Wilkins' newly minted assistant shook his head
in dismay, and made a mental note to make sure that the name plaques on
his door and desk read "Robert."
@ @ @ @ @
Buffy and her friends came into the library as a group, talking quietly
among themselves-and went silent immediately when they saw Giles
standing quietly near the cage, obviously waiting for them. Buffy
blinked and asked the obvious question: "What's wrong, Giles?"
Giles gestured for the four of them to sit, and they went to the large
table and did so. Willow looked uncomfortable, and Oz squeezed her hand
gently to distract her a bit. Xander rubbed distractedly at the fading
bruises on his neck-it had been five days since Faith fled Sunnydale,
and he had been doing all he could to try to force away the memories of
his last meeting with her. Buffy watched Xander with concern, and waited
for Giles to speak.
"A letter arrived here today-with a San Diego postmark. It was from
Faith." Giles spoke calmly, though all present knew him well enough to
detect the undertone of concern in his voice. Everyone straightened up
just a bit, and Giles pulled out a pile of photocopies, adding "Reading
it out loud struck me as being a bit melodramatic and unnecessary, so
I've provided copies for each of you. He handed a copy to each of them,
then looked at his own copy again. The four friends hesitated for a
moment, then began to read:
Hey Guys,
I'm sending this on the morning after I blew town, so by the time you
get it I'll be a long way away from here, so if you want to send the
idiots from England down here looking for me, go ahead. It'll give me a
longr head start.
Look-we all know that I screwed up, and there's no point in me saying I
didn't. I didn't want that guy to die, and yeah, B, it bothered me that
it happened. But after what they did to you, I sure as hell didn't trust
the Council of Stuffy Jackasses to be fair to me, and you know that the
local cops are the Mayor's goons. If it had just been Giles calling the
shots, I'd have trusted him-but it wasn't. I figured that if he thought
you had done it, that he'd protect you even if it meant blowing off the
Council. It was dumb-I saw how this thing was eating you up, and no one
with a brain would have believed that you'd cover it up cold or blame it
on me if I hadn't done it. So, for what it's worth, I was an idiot to
try to dump it on you-I should have just run in the first place, and
that's what I'm doing now.
Giles, B's lucky to have you on her side. It's tough to be the ugly
stepsister, but I think you did your best for me. You gave me some good
tips about life-I wish I had listened to more of them. Keep watching B's
back-after four months in that town, I know that she needs it.
Xander. . .I had a long road trip to think about what happened, and I
get it now. If it means anything, I wish we'd had more time that
night-not for what happened under the sheets, but to get to know each
other better. Maybe I would have listened to you if we had. I won't tell
you to stay out of trouble, because you won't, but take care of
yourself-Buffy and Red would have a hard time getting along without you.
Red-I'm pretty sure you didn't like me much before, and after what I did
to Xander you'd probably like to rip my heart out and feed it to rats.
I'd say you're entitled, and I won't blame you for it. Keep up the fight.
Oz, you're all right in my book. With the Mayor turning out to be a
Black Hat, B and the others are going to need all of the help they can
get. I'm guessing you'll find a way to give it to them.
B, thanks for trying-and tell Angel the same thing. It just wasn't meant
to be.
Oh, and you can tell the Council that I'm going to be moving around a
lot-and killing any vamps or demons that cross my path. You can also
tell them that I've got no interest in killing any more people-but if I
see any Council weasels coming after me, I might change my mind as far
as they're concerned. As for all of you-please don't try to find me: I
don't want to be found.
OK-that's enough. There's a freighter with my name on it, and it's leaving.
Faith
After a few minutes, everyone had finished reading and looked up to see
how the others were reacting. Giles looked somber, while Willow's
expression was ambivalent. Buffy and Xander both looked frustrated, and
Oz. . .was Oz-inscrutable except for an occasional concerned look in
>Oz is Oz-crutable
Willow's direction. Xander broke the silence first: "So that's it? We're
just going to let her go?"
>If you weren't, you wouldn't still be sitting around in Sunnydale five
>days after she rabbitted.
"What else can we do, Xander?" Xander turned to Willow and saw that she
looked resigned. "Buffy was three hours away from us for a whole summer
and we couldn't find her." Buffy flinched, and Willow gave her an
apologetic look before continuing, "Look-I don't like the Council any
more than she does, and I'm glad that she's decided that killing people
is bad, but if she wants to stay gone, there's not much we can do about it.
>That sentence is a bit confused. Then again maybe so is Willow, but
>if you want it to make sense then maybe you should change to something
>like "Look-if she wants to stay gone, there's not much we can do about
>it. I'm just glad she's decided killing people is wrong."
She knows where to find us if she wants to come back or needs help-I
just hope that she means it when she says that she'll just be killing
demons from now on."
Giles nodded and commented, "Willow's analysis would appear to be sound,
unfortunately. Faith has removed herself from this place and her fate is
ultimately in her own hands. While we should be ready to react if she
reappears, I would suggest that we consider how to deal with the current
situation with the assumption that she will not be returning."
Buffy frowned, then nodded reluctantly. "You're right-so where do we beg
in?"
Giles smiled softly at Buffy's quick response, and began: "First-there
is the matter of Mr. Wyndham-Pryce-"
. .to be continued
>Your spelling and grammar are formidably good, and your
>characterisation seems very faithful to the source material. But I do
>suggest that you drop the hospital scene to tighten things up. As for
>the fic premise itself, I hope that you have considered how the two
>series you are crossing synch up. Both Buffy and Harry Potter take
>place in worlds where magic is ubiquitous but inconspicuous, and
>mundane humanity seems oblivious to it, so they aren't so incompatible
>as some crossovers, but there are some differences. First and
foremost >The Watchers and the Ministry of Magic are apparently
different >organisations but they play exactly the same role in their
respective >series as the out of touch magically semi-adept duffers in
authority >who try to protect the world from supernatural misbehaviour
with rules >and regulations, but aren't so hot at actually getting off
their butts >and doing something about the real bad guys. So are the
Watchers a >Ministry of Magic committee charged with gathering
intelligence about
>the Muggle world, or a private organisation of Wizards operating under
>MoM radar?
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